Hungry at Bed Time

Who Me? · Post by **Who Me?** » Wed May 11, 2011 2:43 pm

Since starting No S, I've noticed that I'm often hungry at bed time.

In the past, I would have gone into the kitchen and had something to eat. But now I don't. I take note of the feeling, and tell myself to ignore it.

And do you know what?

I don't wake up particularly hungry, the next morning. I have an appetite for breakfast, but I don't feel like I'm starving.

This is a pleasant discovery.

NoelFigart · Post by **NoelFigart** » Wed May 11, 2011 8:14 pm

I do think that this is an excellent thing.

I'm not in favor of being miserable and starving oneself long-term, but I the idea that we're never EVER supposed to endure being mildly hungry is really a bit absurd and well... kinda first world privileged when you think about it.

Fasting between meals (as goofy as the phrase is) has a lot going for it. I mean, let's get reasonable, three plates of food a day is AMPLE.

That's part of the problem, though. The slippery slope of saying that it's okay to tolerate some hunger and feeling as if it's your responsibility to live on a tuna fish can a day because it's okay to learn to tolerate hunger and you have to make your body look the actresses and models who mostly have a JOB of staying quite thin.

My personal compromise is to say, "Three meals a day are natural, appropriate and based on some level of tradition in my culture. I'll tolerate hunger outside of that if I feel it, but that's my line in the sand. I will eat those three meals."

It's another case of letting the minimum be the maximum, I suppose. I am losing weight in the face of it albeit quite slowly.

Who Me? · Post by **Who Me?** » Wed May 11, 2011 8:23 pm

Don't worry.... I'll never become someone who starves themselves. I'm too hyper, and I just like food too much.

I'm making another huge batch of marmalade today. Nom nom nom. Fresh lemons from the backyard.

ThomsonsPier · Post by **ThomsonsPier** » Thu May 12, 2011 9:50 am

I had a similar realisation. Hunger does occasionally become a problem when it's enough to stop me from sleeping, but that's usually after a heavy exercise session and a glass of milk tends to take care of it.

Clarica · Post by **Clarica** » Sat May 14, 2011 5:40 pm

I have gotten a hungry at bed time feeling from no-s too, and I agree, it's not carried through till morning--I notice no difference upon waking. It's also associated with weight-loss phases for me. When I feel that hungry at bed time feeling, I seem to be losing weight.

It's not a terrible hunger or anything, perhaps "hollow" or "not full" describes it better? I am absolutely not lying there longing to eat or anything, and I don't fantasize about food, well anymore than normal. :) Food fantasy for me is just meal planning, these days!

Who Me? · Post by **Who Me?** » Sun May 15, 2011 3:32 am

Last night I was *really* hungry at bedtime. It was hard to ignore, but I just decided to be *really* stubborn.

And again, I woke up this morning with no unusual hunger pangs.

Strange, that.

debable · Post by **debable** » Sun May 15, 2011 1:45 pm

My first night on no s i awoke at 3am with severe hunger pains and couldn't get back to sleep until I ate something.

The next night I had a more substantial dinner and I was fine.

I still go to bed feeling somewhat hungry every night (1 month later) but I haven't been wakened by hunger pangs again and I am no more hungry than usual in the morning.

If I am reeaaly hungry at night I will have a small glass of milk before bed and that does the trick.

I am so happy to feel that I don't NEED to eat when I feel a little hungry.

Who Me? · Post by **Who Me?** » Thu May 19, 2011 2:31 pm

I was really hungry, almost immediately after dinner last night.

We've both been sick. Nobody's been to the store. No milk or juice in the house.

Thank goodness I'm extremely stubborn!

Who Me? · Post by **Who Me?** » Fri May 20, 2011 3:09 pm

I'm continuing to find this challenging.

In truth, I don't need to lose a lot of weight (10 - 15 pounds is my goal). I'm here to reinstitute some structure to my eating habits.

And -- DANG -- I'm hungry before bedtime.

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Fri May 20, 2011 3:58 pm

Maybe you need a heartier dinner? Feeling hungry right after a full meal seems off -- that shouldn't be happening.

Who Me? · Post by **Who Me?** » Sat May 21, 2011 12:03 am

There's a blurry boundary between "eat until you're 80% full, and don't have seconds" and "short yourself on dinner, and be fidgety all night."

I'm still trying to figure this out.

Who Me? · Post by **Who Me?** » Thu Jun 16, 2011 4:42 am

Yup, I'm still struggling with this gnawing hunger at bedtime.

This is the hardest time for me.

sophiasapientia · Post by **sophiasapientia** » Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:15 am

How long of a gap do you have between dinner and bedtime? ... I eat dinner fairly early (5:30) and sometimes get hungry later in the evening. It was hard at first but eventually I got used to it. Now, the hunger barely registers and if it does, I remind myself that I can eat whatever I want for breakfast in the morning. Drinking a beverage to ward of the hunger helps, eating a hearty dinner helps, making sure that you are getting enough protein helps. I hope that you are able to find a happy medium soon. Hang in there!

Andie · Post by **Andie** » Thu Jun 16, 2011 12:31 pm

If I'm really hungry, I have a glass of milk at bedtime. It's allowed on no s, and also somewhat rooted in culture, it seems. Most of the time I'm only slightly hungry though, and a nice cup of herbal tea will do.

Marianna · Post by **Marianna** » Thu Jun 16, 2011 1:33 pm

I eat two fiber gummies (10 cals) at 9pm with a glass of water. It is "medicinal" for me (I need those little guys!), but it also eliminates any gnawing hunger. Just an idea.

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Thu Jun 16, 2011 1:59 pm

Who Me? wrote:Yup, I'm still struggling with this gnawing hunger at bedtime.

This is the hardest time for me.

Are you eating enough "real food" during the day?

Clarica · Post by **Clarica** » Thu Jun 16, 2011 9:25 pm

my bedtime hunger isn't really a gnawing hunger, it's more like stomach emptiness. I used to think that was hunger, but it's not, it's sort of a hollow feeling instead of an actual yearning.

a gnawing hunger would be harder to dismiss.

Who Me? · Post by **Who Me?** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:34 am

I can't answer the question about if I eat enough "real food" because I don't know what that question is really asking

It has been my observation that meat eaters rarely think that vegetarians "eat enough real food." Because I've been having some really freaky health issues, I've had a huge number of medical tests done. I am assured that I'm getting proper nutrition. The only thing I was lacking was vitamin D, and I'm taking pills for that now.

I really do have a very fast metabolism, so in the past I could pretty much eat anything at any time without consequences. Things change, though, when one is over thirty...

Clarica · Post by **Clarica** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:47 am

For me that question would be closely related to weight loss. quicker weight loss is usually correlated with unpleasant feelings of hunger. basically, is your calorie deficit each day small enough for your body to ignore, or so big that it escalates survival mechanisms (increased hunger) designed to protect you from wasting away.

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 1:03 pm

Who Me? wrote:I can't answer the question about if I eat enough "real food" because I don't know what that question is really asking

It has been my observation that meat eaters rarely think that vegetarians "eat enough real food."

I've come across that sentiment, too. Also the opposite. Here are some clues as to what "real food" is:

Day-Glo orange cheese flavored powder isn't real food. Cheddar Cheese is real food. If you look at the ingredients list of a food and it's mostly chemicals, it's not real food. If you look at the ingredients list and it's things that you could have in your cupboard, refrigerator or freezer, it's real food. It it's something that requires a factory to make, it's not real food. If it's something you could make at home (whether or not you do is another thing), it's real food. If it's something that, depending on your age, your (or someone's) grandmother or great-grandmother could have sourced or cooked, it's probably real food. If it was developed by the food industry, it probably isn't real food. If it relies on food coloring for its color, it probably isn't real food. If it doesn't have a list of ingredients, it's real food. If you can buy it at a farmer's market, it's real food.

Who Me? · Post by **Who Me?** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 1:47 pm

Most of my food is home made, from scratch. Much of that comes from my garden. We keep bees, and are working on our backyard orchard.

BrightAngel · Post by **BrightAngel** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 1:57 pm

Clarica wrote:For me that question would be closely related to weight loss.
quicker weight loss is usually correlated with unpleasant feelings of hunger.

basically, is your calorie deficit each day small enough for your body to ignore,
or so big that it escalates survival mechanisms (increased hunger) designed to protect you from wasting away.

An Interesting point to consider.

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 2:00 pm

Who Me? wrote:Most of my food is home made, from scratch. Much of that comes from my garden. We keep bees, and are working on our backyard orchard.

When I asked about "enough real food", I was thinking in two directions:

1) Are you eating enough? A number of people (me included) who were used to snacking (or dieting, or both), get hungry initially because they ate teeny meals that couldn't "carry" them long enough.

2) The "real food" was not clear; I sometimes use it much like wosnes, but in this case I meant it as the opposite of "diet food". I do think WHAT you eat matters in terms of satiety as well as weight loss - carbs, protein, and fat all digest at different rates. If you're eating "diet food", which often skimps on protein and fat, it may not hold you long enough. (You don't need a lot, and it can certainly be plant-based, but some.)

Either issue can result in excessive hunger.

(How cool that you keep bees! That's not something I want to do myself, but I think it's a neat thing to do.)

Who Me? · Post by **Who Me?** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 2:31 pm

Thankfully, I've never ever gone down the road of eating "diet" food. I try to eat simple hearty food, prepared at home as much as possible. Developing massive food allergies last year certainly added to the "not eating out" part of my life. You just *try* to eat in a restaurant if you are a vegetarian, who cannot (like -- I'll go to the Emergency Room if I do) eat tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants or tomatillos.

I'm really lucky that my partner is a fantastic cook.

And yeah, keeping bees is fascinating!

leafy_greens · Post by **leafy_greens** » Fri Jun 24, 2011 12:55 am

Clarica wrote:I have gotten a hungry at bed time feeling from no-s too, and I agree, it's not carried through till morning--I notice no difference upon waking. It's also associated with weight-loss phases for me. When I feel that hungry at bed time feeling, I seem to be losing weight.

It's not a terrible hunger or anything, perhaps "hollow" or "not full" describes it better? I am absolutely not lying there longing to eat or anything, and I don't fantasize about food, well anymore than normal. Food fantasy for me is just meal planning, these days!

Me too. I can't lose weight unless I feel "empty" at bed time. (here comes the metabolism police...)

Who Me? · Post by **Who Me?** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:31 pm

It's interesting to me that I had a *lot* of hunger issues when I started following this system.

Because I'm stubborn, and because it didn't make sense for me, I did *not* increase the size of my meals, or add more fat to my meals. I just cut out all the esses. No more snacks. No sweets. No seconds.

The first few weeks were ROUGH. However, I relied on my aforementioned stubbornness, and persevered.

And you know what?

I don't miss any if the things I've given up. I'm not particularly hungry between meals. I *know* I'm eating less. But I'm not any hungrier than when I was eating more.

Weird.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 3:32 am

If you were calling a lot of urges "hunger" when they weren't, you're probably less "hungry." When I'm on track (I've been having some red days), I don't feel those urges much. So I get hungry only twice a day.

Who Me? · Post by **Who Me?** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 3:46 am

No, I was genuinely hungry.

I want to be clear that I know the difference between hunger and not-hunger.

And in the interest of honesty, I'll say that when I got so hungry that I got the shakes or was dizzy, I bloody well ate something. I may be stubborn, but I'm not a fool.